To: Irish government

No more energy + water sucking data centres

Urgently rein in the growth of data centres with a moratorium, so that ordinary people don't have to bear the burden any longer.

Why is this important?

While the government cosies up to big tech billionaires, ordinary people are paying the price.  

This endless growth of data centres is:

  • Driving up our energy bills - households in Ireland paid €715 million more in electricity bills between 2015 and 2023 to subsidise the huge growth in data centres. Data centres also pay less for electricity than households. 

  • Draining our water supply - while people are forced to conserve water, data centres are allowed to use millions of litres a day. Over the summer of 2026, data centres doubled their water use in Ireland. 

  • Straining our energy grid - data centres now use 23% of all electricity in Ireland, and this is projected to grow to 31% by 2035. Instead of households being able to access clean, cheap energy, this is being sucked up by data centres. 

  • Affecting local communities - with air and noise pollution, and pressure on local infrastructure and services. 

  • Driving demand for more dirty gas - and encouraging the government to support new infrastructure to import more dirty, expensive gas to Ireland. 
      
  • Powering dangerous war and surveillance - investigations show that data centres in Ireland are providing cloud storage services to Israel’s military intelligence agency. 

There have been limits placed on data centres in Ireland before, but we desperately need more. The government must reinstate a moratorium now, to address the huge harms that data centres are having on our communities.  

We are planning to hand over this petition together with Friends of the Earth Ireland.